The Global Witness report that shows Guyana has potentially lost US$55 billion from the oil deal with ExxonMobil would have been more effective if it was released after the March 2nd general elections as it could have been used to pressure whichever government wins in its dealings with the oil major, thus helping shape public policy.
So said Chatham House Fellow and Project Head of the New Petroleum Producers Discussion Group Dr Valérie Marcel, who last week told Sunday Stabroek that while she believes that the timing of the report’s release was designed to give the United Kingdom-headquartered non-governmental organisation more prominence and grab global attention, she doubts that Global Witness prefers the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) over the current APNU+AFC coalition government.
“Global Witness wants to effect positive change on the governance of natural resources. I think it would have been more effective to release the report after the elections, so they could use it to put pressure on the winning party to be a stronger counterpart to ExxonMobil. Less of a “gotcha” moment but more, potentially much more effective,” she said.